June 17, 2008 — For being an outstanding student and good citizen, Mary Cizin, a first-grade student at Johnstonville School, was one of the youngest students in Lassen County to be recognized by the Lassen County Charter of the Association of California School Administrators. Cizin was honored and received an ACSA certificate during the Thursday, June 5 meeting of the Susanville Sunrise Rotary Club. Cizin’s parents, Jim and Bernadette Cizin, her little brother and grandfather, of Ashland, Ore., were in attendance. In addition, Johnsontville School Superintendent and rotary member Lou Istrice and Cizin’s teacher Norman Gollnick, who nominated Cizin for the award were also present.

Gollnick describes Cizin as a top-notch student and an all around phenomenal young lady.

He said Cizin is attentive in class, serious-minded, considerate and is a good friend to those with whom she plays and interacts with.

According to Gollnick, Cizin also has good parental support and parents who are involved. Cizin’s mother, Bernadette, helps in class once a week.

Academically, Cizin is excellent at reading, being able to read approximately 150 words per minute with almost 100 percent comprehension.

Cizin said she reads mostly Dr. Seuss books, but has started reading chapter books such as Judy Moody, stories written by Megan McDonald and illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds. Cizin said she reads to see if a story is funny and will read books over and over again even though she knows what is going to happen. She said she also will continue reading a book even if it’s not funny.

One of her favorite thing about reading are the pictures, which Cizin said are sometimes really cool.

Cizin’s mother said they have been really lucky, because Cizin has had two excellent teachers, Gollnick and retired McKinley School kindergarten teacher Julie McQueen, who have helped her daughter get started in reading and who provided guidelines to follow at home to reinforce what students are learning in school.

Cizin said McQueen helped her learn to sound out words. At the end of the school year, Bernadette said McQueen gave out books and Cizin was able to read them over the summer.

At home, Cizin’s parents encourage their daughter’s reading by finding material she likes, including books about wildlife and bugs, and read with her.

Bernadette said she also takes her daughter to the library so she can look at the books and has a huge variety from which to pick.

Cizin also reads to her 3-year -old brother, but said he always runs away so she doesn’t get to read the whole story to him.

Cizin said she thinks being able to read well will help her get good grades. She also wants to thank her teacher, Gollnick, for helping her get the award.

Johnstonville School ended its school year on Friday, June 13. However, Cizin said she will continue reading over the summer. As she prepares to go into second grade, Cizin said she has no fear about reading becoming more difficult because she said she knows lots of words.